Man stomps on ex and shoots her, then new girlfriend helps him hide body, MO cops say
A missing Missouri woman was found dead and buried in a shallow grave, and now her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend are accused of murder, officials said.
Tony Charboneau of Sullivan punched his ex and then stomped on her after getting into an argument on June 20, the Washington County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said in an Aug. 5 news release.
Her name was Amy Hogue, investigators told KSDK. Hogue, a 44-year-old Union resident, was reported missing around the time of the attack, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
It wasn’t the first time she suffered violence at Charboneau’s hands, officials said. He’d been charged twice with domestic violence against her, the news release said.
After assaulting her, Charboneau and his new girlfriend — Brandi Luffy — lifted Hogue into a wheelchair and bound her to it using ratchet straps, officials said in court documents. They loaded her, still in the wheelchair, into the back of Charboneau’s vehicle and drove into woods near his home, according to the documents.
Luffy acted as a lookout while Charboneau dug a shallow hole, documents said. He pulled Hogue out of the chair, shot her in the head and buried her, covering her hidden grave with rocks and branches, officials said.
They then burned the ratchet straps and a tarp, then tossed Hogue’s purse in a river, according to officials.
During the investigation into Hogue’s disappearance, investigators interviewed Luffy and she admitted to her part in the killing and led investigators to the burial site, documents said.
McClatchy News reached out to an attorney listed for Charboneau but did not immediately receive a response. No attorney was listed for Luffy.
“This crime is heinous, and it was pointless,” Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen told KSDK. “That makes it even worse, the fact that (Hogue) finally got enough and she was ready to leave and get away from this situation, and she was killed for it.”
Charboneau and Luffy are charged with murder, kidnapping, abandonment of a corpse, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, officials said.
Bond is set at $1 million for each of them, records show.
Hogue’s body was found on Aug. 2, her son, Corbin Crider, said in a Facebook post.
“She was a mother and my best friend. She did not deserve this,” Crider wrote. “There are truly monsters in this world we live in.”
“To the friends and family that knew my mother, she loved each and every single one of you so deeply and so fiercely,” he continued. “And to my mom, momma I love you so very much.”
Sullivan is a roughly 70-mile drive southwest from St. Louis.
This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Man stomps on ex and shoots her, then new girlfriend helps him hide body, MO cops say."